A Review of Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye’s Coming to Birth

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It has taken me an unnecessarily longer time than expected to reread Marjorie Oludhe Mcgoye’s Coming to Birth. Perhaps it is because I consciously knew that she passed on late last year; thus trying to pore over every word or it could be that I have been juggling too many things of late. I concede that this culminates into one of the most difficult book reviews I have ever done. However, the text still left me informed of the various ways in which humans and aspects of life have continued to come into being – to birth so to speak.

The text has enjoyed a wide audience owing to its run in the school curriculum as a set book in addition to its adoption in the Kenyan university literature programmes. Further, with its setting at the backdrop of the colonial times and the period after independence in Kenya, it has continued to interest many a reader due to its historical tangent. Indeed, the text serves as an allegory to the political events bedecking the country at the time. Symbolically, one can lay claim that the text represents the effort to come to birth in the Kenyan nation: economically, socially and politically.

In its opening pages, we are immediately introduced to the main characters: Martin Were and Paulina Akelo. As the reader soon realises, Martin represents the rising and upcoming educated young generation. It is a generation straddled between the traditional African way of doing things and the emergent westernised ways of handling things. It is one source of conflict in the text. In fact, it symbolises Martin’s dilemma on how to handle his marriage: should he carry himself as a traditional patriarch, a representation of a true Luo man or should he act as a liberal man who resides in a town setup?

On the other hand, Paulina is inextricably disadvantaged by the fact that she has to rediscover herself, her self-worth, her womanhood and maternal-hood through the varied personal experiences at the backdrop of an unforgiving patriarchal society that considers women independence ill-advised. When we first encounter her, we immediately empathise with her predicament as a naïve teenage girl thrown into the murky world of a marriage institution she knows nothing about. It appears as a deliberate step by the author to mould a character who will be the voice of reason in conveying the idea of women emancipation eventually towards the end of the text.

For his part, Martin comes across as the inverse of Paulina. As she grows to be more assertive and sure of herself, Martin diminishes not only in confidence but somehow in his moral standing owing to the fact that he feels less of a man as a result of his inability to bear children not just with Paulina but also with the other women such as with Fatima and Fauzia. In a way, the text raises poignant issues regarding the criteria that the society uses to define the individual’s identity: is it education? Money? Children? Work? Marriage? What exactly defines human beings and their sense of worth? Also, of what significance is the railway line to the definition of the country at large? Does the railway redefine the political, social or economic status of the country or that of its people?

Kenya at large seems to be going through certain labour pains as it strives to attain independence at the backdrop of colonisation. Barbed wires, passes and controlled movement of citizens is what we encounter in the opening pages of the novel. We can deduce that Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye uses the story of Martin and Paulina as a foil to narrate the story of independence of the nation at large. Consequently, as we grief with Paulina for the miscarriages she suffers, we also grief with the country for the loss of its freedom fighters, political icons like Argwings Kodhek, J. M. Kariuki, Tom Mboya etc. As Kenya goes through economic upheavals, political assassinations, tribal divisions and other turbulent issues such as armed attacks at the OTC bus station, we also appreciate the equivalent challenges at the personal level as both Martin and Paulina are embattled with personal losses.

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Where Martin is at times cast as degenerating morally – sleeping with multiple women et al, Paulina is propped as a determined woman who finally finds her voice and financial independence through her perseverance. It is through Paulina that the writer manages to differentiate between womanhood and motherhood. Either can be used to define a woman without having any inhibitions regarding the sense of self-worth. Although Paulina prides herself in being able to bear a child, Martin Okeyo, with Simon, she is soon to discover that motherhood is not the only means to self-definition when he is accidentally killed through a gunshot during the procession to welcome Jomo Kenyatta to Kisumu – an event highlighting the acrimony between the tribe of the Gikuyu and that of the Luo. However, the affair with Martin symbolises her ability to make decisions for herself, if you so wish her sexual independence.

On the other hand, Martin discovers disillusionment when he tries to find happiness in other women. His manhood is consistently crushed when he cannot bear children perhaps intimating that manhood is not only defined by ability to sire children. He finally has to do the inevitable when he packs his things to join Paulina in her place of abode at the home of Mr and Mrs M. This is ironic since the community of the time would consider it a taboo for the man to be housed by the woman – subversion of masculinity – that a man is the provider/protector. It epitomises Paulina’s independence which is already visible in her conversations with her employer. She can voice her opinions and make other decisions like talking to the press and refusing to divulge her identity. In a conciliatory tone, the writer makes it possible for Martin and Paulina to conceive at the end of the text.

It is this conception that is pregnant with a lot of hope. Not just for the couple but also for the country at large. The reader can entertain the imagination that both Martin and Paulina will finally have peace now that they have come of age. Their experiences have taught them, shaped them into a better couple. As a result, we assume that the country has also learnt from its mistakes and it would be willing to mend political differences for the common good of its citizenry. Although the text resonates with authorial intrusions here and there like the encounter of Paulina with the street children, the reader is able to follow the coming of age of the two characters in all different spheres of their lives. It is not necessarily the best of novels of the coming of age of Kenya, neither is it the most interesting read but it is manageable. What is your take?